Ofcom | UK consumers revealed as early adopters of new technologies

UK consumers are some of the earliest adopters of new communications technologies, new Ofcom research reveals. They are among the best connected for broadband, mobile and digital TV and the UK has seen the fastest growth in smartphone take-up. UK consumers are also enjoying lower prices for communications services than many consumers across the world. - media.ofcom.org.uk

media.ofcom.org.uk

Britons well ahead of the pack in adopting new technology, says Ofcom | Business | The Guardian

Britain is seeing faster growth in subscribers to high-value smartphones, such as the iPhone, than anywhere else in Europe, Ofcom's latest research has found. The communications regulator said that the UK was near or at the front of almost all the basic categories it studied, including percentage of broadband users, adoption of new TV technologies, use of social networking, smartphone and mobile internet take-up, and use of laptops rather than desktop computers to access the net. Italy has the highest take-up of smartphones among European countries with 26 subscribers for every 100 people, followed by Spain 21 and the UK 18. - guardian.co.uk

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BBC Plans Subscription-Only U.S. iPlayer On iPad| paidContent:UK

The significance of the move is clear it means the BBC will operate a subscription worldwide media channel that, in time, could become one of its biggest. However I can announce here that were going to be adopting a pure paid subscription model for the global iPlayer for launch in part to get audiences used to using the service, but more importantly so we can generate additional value from the service in terms of the user data that it gives us. Launched three years ago, its now the UKs most popular broadcaster-operated VOD service, clocking 139 million requests in October. - paidcontent.co.uk

paidcontent.co.uk

Fake sales and price tricks targeted in crackdown - December - 2010 - Which? News

02 December 2010 Companies which dupe people into buying items through tricks such as hidden extras must make prices clearer or face enforcement action, the trade watchdog warned today. It singled out practices such as 'drip pricing' - where extras such as taxes and card charges are added as you go through the buying process - time-limited offers - such as those that 'end today' - and baiting sales, where a deal is advertised to get customers through the door but few items are available at the sale price. We've reported several companies to trading standards officers and the OFT because of our concerns that consumers were being misled. - which.co.uk

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UK lags on broadband and mobile

In its annual International Communications Market report, the regulator said more needed to be done on fixed and mobile broadband. Less than 1 of UK homes have super-fast broadband, compared to over a third of Japanese consumers. Next-generation mobile services have yet to roll out in the UK. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Blinkx eyes place on UKs YouView platform| Reuters

Blinkx has indexed more than 35 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content using patented search technology. It generates ad revenue at the search stage and then also within the playback if the video is shown on its own site or on one of its partners' sites. - reuters.com

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Jana Bennetts reign as BBC head of television to end | Media | guardian.co.uk

The outgoing director of BBC Vision, Jana Bennett. The person appointed is likely to be considered a potential successor to Mark Thompson as director general. Other rising BBC stars have been discreetly ruled out. - guardian.co.uk

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Media: Michael Grade, WikiLeaks, Neil Berkett. 1 Dec 10

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Humax: Freeview HD receiver sales have been disappointing | News | TechRadar UK

Humax is at the forefront of Freeview HD in the UK. Price of the product has been a little high. - techradar.com

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That UKRD spat in numbers - James Cridland

They damage radios standing in the eyes of advertisers and listeners. The radio industry is best served by making brilliant programming that people want to listen to on whatever platform. The radio industry is not best served by subjecting UKRDs 898,000 weekly listeners to a negative propaganda exercise. - james.cridland.net

james.cridland.net

BBC strike threat averted as pensions reform agreed | News | Broadcast

It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.uk

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Thousands of Sky customers sold fake insurance | This is Money

Insurance scam Three firms convinced customers to take out monthly premiums A probe by the City regulator found three firms were raking in millions of pounds in profit by selling Sky insurance without authorisation. It meant that customers who had a problem with the insurance had no protection from the Financial Services Authority as a result, they could not complain to the ombudsman. Money Mail has repeatedly warned readers about satellite insurance scams. - thisismoney.co.uk

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Sly Bailey: Murdoch will want pound of flesh from Sky - Press Gazette

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DAB radio switchover to proceed as planned - November - 2010 - Which? News

30 November 2010 Listening on DAB or internet contributes towards digital listening figures. The response suggests no change will be made to the criteria that will trigger the switch from FMto DAB, which may disappoint those less than enamoured with digital radio at present. In particular, it was concerned that it could lead to FM listeners feeling bullied into buying into DAB for fear of losing the ability to listen to radio. - which.co.uk

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In Online TV Re-Streaming, UK s TVCatchup Dealt A Legal Blow| paidContent:UK

The website started re-streaming live TV channels on the web two years ago, after it earlier shut a kind of web-based PVR it operated. TVCatchup argued that its re-streams are not broadcasts since they are one-to-one, not one-to-many. The channels concede, on this point, that TVCatchups streams themselves dont constitute broadcasting. - paidcontent.co.uk

paidcontent.co.uk

Digital switchover to be delayed | News | Broadcast

30 November, 2010 The switchover to digital radio could be delayed until 2017 at the earliest, sources at Westminster have said. It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.uk

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Media comment and updates - Media UK

... more Changes to our email alerts James Cridland August 25, 2012 We've changed our email alerts to be more comprehensive and better. James Cridland May 22, 2012 Chrome is apparently now the number one browser. ... more 24 hours in media Thu 3 May James Cridland May 3, 2012 A trial. - mediauk.com

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London gets Noughties on DAB

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Video on demand: will there actually be a demand? | Media | The Guardian

Deluded, because he believes, supported by the data, the extent of change in viewing habits is much less, and will be much less than the hype suggests, over the next decade. Barwise bases his case on the fact that 80 of viewing is of live TV, and the rest is largely catchup in one form or another. Of the remainder, VoD accounts for only 1-2 of viewing for young adults, he said. - guardian.co.uk

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Has BBC World Service become a sacrificial victim? | Media | The Guardian

The FCO funds the World Service via an annual grant that has already been reduced from 272m to 261m this year. Osborne said in October it would be subject to a further 16 cut in its budget by 2014. That is simply too big a cut not to have a devastating effect on services, some of which will be shut down completely. - guardian.co.uk

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China broadcasters strike gold with foreign formats

The success of the show, which found its own unlikely star in winner Liu Wei - an armless pianist who plays with his toes - also marks a shift in China's television industry from copying to buying foreign copyrights. Viewers responded by making it SMG's highest-rated show ever, with the October 12 finale capturing 5.7 percent of the nationwide audience and a 34.9 percent share in Shanghai. Disney saw it as part of a long-term China investment, he added. - independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

Absolute Radio tries Full HD

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BBC firms up Television Centre sale | Media | The Guardian

In the summer the BBC unveiled plans to redevelop the Television Centre site into a 'creative quarter'. The Guardian has learned that plans about the next stage of the redevelopment has been drawn up and will be put before the BBC's finance committee next month. All news staff are being housed together in Broadcasting House after a 1bn revamp, which has now been completed. - guardian.co.uk

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New BBC Red Button Connected Homepage

As many of you know, if you have both broadband and a Freesat HD set top box, you can connect your box to the Internet with an Ethernet cable. This allows your Freesat box to receive content both via broadcast, and the internet BBC iPlayer for example, is streamed to Freesat IP-enabled devices so you can pick and choose which video to watch, whenever you want it to start playing. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Tim Davie on DABs ambitious target

Editor's note Tim Davie was interviewed on today's Feedback, Radio 4's weekly accountability programme - SB. BBC TV and Radio is running its own companion advertisments but some commercial radio stations are holding off. Fifteen per cent of listening is currently on DAB radio and that figure rises to nearly 25 per cent for listening on all digital platforms - online etc. Many of us have lots of analogue radios which we have no desire to see become redundant. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

LG updates online service with iPlayer and Twitter

The new online applications are available to current owners of LG NetCast TVs via an update. Were committed to offering our customers a fully connected home and these new applications will further enhance our current offering. - dtg.org.uk

www.dtg.org.uk

Media Talk: Katie Price, Richard Desmond, and Murdoch's 'iNewspaper'

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PCTV Systems PCTV NanoStick T2 review | Expert Reviews

At that time, we were expecting PC tuners supporting the standard to follow on quickly. Weeks stretched to months, TV manufacturers launched HD compatible sets, but there was still no sign of PC tuners. This makes the potential market for such a tuner rather small. - expertreviews.co.uk

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Can sky-high broadband take off?

The spacecraft, called Hylas 1 Highly Adaptable Satellite, was scheduled to launch at the end of last year but will now go into orbit on 26 November. The UK government may see the launch as an answer to its prayers as it races to provide all homes with a minimum 2Mbps broadband connection by 2015. He said the service would provide an answer to rural communities which had been quoted thousands of pounds from firms such as BT to roll out broadband services. - bbc.co.uk

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Sonichi SB-50 DAB first look - Audio - Which? Technology

If that sounds complicated, don't worry - it's very similar to other in-car CD/radios, except it adds a DAB tuner and other features. It's rare to find brand-new cars with a DAB radio, let alone older ones, so this is one way of upgrading your car. There are a few other manufacturers offering a DAB in-car radio, but these are often significantly more expensive than the Sonichi unit. - which.co.uk

www.which.co.uk

Labour calls for Jeremy Hunt to sort out S4C mess of his own making | Media | guardian.co.uk

It may already be too late for that. S4C has been in crisis since last month when Hunt negotiated a deal with the BBC for the corporation to take over responsibility for its governance and most of its funding in 2013, without consulting the Welsh-language broadcaster. S4C is also facing a 24.4 budget cut in real terms as part of the government's comprehensive spending review. - guardian.co.uk

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BBC News Channel audience figures

This year has seen many major news stories, including the UK general election, the Haiti earthquake, the Pakistan floods, the shootings in Cumbria and the Chilean miners. During events like these, some traumatic and some complex, many people turn to the BBC. In the year so far, 9.6 million people have watched the channel each week a 24 increase on 2009, when the average was 7.7 million. - bbc.co.uk

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Tracking ratings for BBC programmes

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World Service to get funding boost in 2014 | News | Broadcast

It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.uk

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S4C chairman resigns | News | Broadcast

It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.uk

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OFT May Pass on Review of News Corp. s BSkyB Bid, Lawyers Say - BusinessWeek

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BT could bundle YouView boxes with broadband packages

BT is reportedly considering bundling its broadband packages with YouView set-top boxes when the internet protocol TV service hits the market next year. - cable.co.uk

www.cable.co.uk

Coalition tried to force BBC to run government adverts - TV Radio, Media - The Independent

The director general of the BBC claimed yesterday he had been placed under pressure to broadcast government advertising, threatening the independence of the BBC. Mr Thompson also claimed the deal struck with the Government had actually made the organisation larger rather than smaller. - independent.co.uk

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DAB radio ads fuel row over digital switchover - Business News, Business - The Independent

The analogue radio signal is set to be turned off in 2015. Mr Rogers attacks DAB for its lack of national coverage, claiming that even where the signal does exist it is of variable quality, and pointing out that not all stations will fit on to the new system. Other groups, including Global Radio and GMG, are also holding off from the Christmas ads. - independent.co.uk

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Challenge will arrive on Freeview in 2011

Freeview homes are to receive the Challenge TV channel in the new year for the first time, as Sky decides to keep the channel. Every night will be Saturday night for game show fans with Freeview The channel looks set to launch on Freeview in 2011, though it is not yet sure when. Offering the channel through Freeview will make every night Saturday night for game show fans, without the need for a subscription TV service. - digitalchoices.co.uk

www.digitalchoices.co.uk

Lord Burns: Channel 4s independence threatened by new bill | Media | guardian.co.uk

You should not be able to make rapid changes without going through due process. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. - guardian.co.uk

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Lord Bragg: Ofcom should do PSB deal if ITV ad rules are scrapped | Media | guardian.co.uk

Stross said that CRR should be scrapped because the TV market had completely changed since it was introduced in 2003. To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editormediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. - guardian.co.uk

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Ofcom Draft guidance note for completion of C4C combined statement of programme and media content policy

The new duty, covering all C4C's delivery platforms, is in addition to the existing requirement to prepare a statement of programme policy for Channel 4 alone. In preparing each statement, C4C must have regard to guidance given by Ofcom. This draft note provides proposed guidance in relation to C4C's preparation of both statements as a combined statement of programme and media content policy. - stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk

stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk

BBC launches UKs first carbon calculator for television

The BBC today launches the UK's first carbon calculator for television as part of an industry-leading campaign to improve sustainability and cut carbon emissions. The BBC has a target of 20 reduction in energy consumption by 2013. The carbon calculator is an online tool that programme-makers can use to estimate their carbon footprint and will be accompanied by a guide with actions to reduce this footprint. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

GMG and Global refuse DAB ads

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TV habits to evolve in UK

Research firm Kantar Media surveyed 2,234 people aged 12 years old and above, and found 42are currently aware of IPTV. However, 63 of subscribers to Virgin Media, which offers video-on-demand services via television sets, had streamed material in this way during the last month, declining to 22 engaging in such a pastime online. Elsewhere, 42 of Sky TV viewers had previously utilised this medium to access VOD, compared with 27 logging on to the internet for this purpose. - warc.com

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Think mobile internet is the future for radio? Think again - James Cridland

Think mobile internet is the future for radio Think again Posted on Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010 at 1044 pm. We transmit our radio station on our transmitters and a receiver gets our signal. - james.cridland.net

james.cridland.net

Watchdog rebukes Sky channel in Germany - Business News, Business - The Independent

It took issue with the reported levels of subscribers, inflated profits and the value of the company. The reprimand comes after an 18-month investigation into the group, which dates back to before News Corp invested in the company, which was then called Premiere. It added that the total compensation for rights to show Bundesliga football matches, which were worth 335m 283m and 16.4 million shares, had not been provided in the group's financial report for 2007. - independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

Channel 5 plans revamp of news programmes | Media | The Guardian

The media mogul behind OK magazine and adult television programmes such as Wobbling Whoppers 2 is looking at ending current news provider Sky News's 9m a year contract early and creating a populist, new-look bulletin. Desmond, who also owns the Conservative supporting Daily Express, wants greater personal control over the Channel 5 News bulletins, and has asked a group of news producers to provide a team of journalists to help make the daily programmes. Sky has also been asked to submit ideas, but the Rupert Murdoch-controlled satellite broadcaster is not thought likely to retain the contract. - guardian.co.uk

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BT likely to offer free YouView boxes next year - Media news - Media Week

YouView has met with some resistance, most notably from Virgin Media and BSkyB, which claimed the service was anti-competitive. However, broadcasting regulator Ofcom said last month that it was too soon to investigate the service. Industry sources suggest BT will bundle YouView into its broadband packages and give away the hardware. - mediaweek.co.uk

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